This year I did away with my paper diary. I didn’t go electronic and start storing everything on my phone because my brain doesn’t work that way. I need paper, I need to write things down.
But I’ve been carrying a note book and a diary around for years and really it makes more sense to just carry around one thing. The idea of bullet journalling as a solution to this problem has been floating around my head for a while and back in October, I decided to try it and bought a notebook. A Leuchtturm1917 to be precise. Now, I have a thing about notebooks with my preferred option being a rhodia but I couldn’t find a one with dots at that point so I went with the leuchtturm which has an index and numbered pages. Next time, I think I’ll work out getting a a rhodia because the leuchtturm has such an issue with bleedthrough when I’m using my fountain pen (which is this one but with a thicker left handed nib and no one else is allowed to use it on pain of death).
Anyway, I looked at the website, then I looked at a couple of others and started to play. By the start of the year I was happy enough to abandon my diary and go with this. I’ve settled into a rhythm with it. So basically I use it as my diary, to track goals, as a menu planner, to track what I’m posting on the blog and then for random stuff and very occasional journalling. I’m not very artistic at all so I don’t spend a lot of time creating a beautiful weekly or monthly spread, I try but the best you could say it that they are functional.
Monthly. I printed off these monthly grids and added birthdays, bank holidays and other significant dates, I keep them in the back of book in case I need to add things to them but only stick them in as the month starts.
The other side of that monthly lay out is for monthly goals. This is a page in development as I think it will change as I work out how better to use it.
Weekly. I have a two page spread that works exactly like my diary pages used to. I put appointments and daily tasks in and use it in all the ways I used to use my diary, the only difference being that I set it up the week before I need it.
Menu planning also gets a weekly page but it usually gets set up in the week prior to me using it. My food weeks go from Sat to Friday and I tend to plan and put the shopping and food prep to-do list on one page.
Blog. I’ve planned out a page a month for the blog, added the stuff I know that I’m going to post, so Friday Links, the monthly goals and ‘What I’ve Read’ posts and then as I have ideas, I pencil them in. This is not a change from last year planning in my notebook, it’s just in the same place as my diary.
The other stuff goes in as and when I think of something. Here’s one of the allotment pages for tracking what we’re growing..
The BuJo things that don’t work for me are the symbols for tasks, ideas and so on. I’m just not that organised that I need it and remembering what was what wasn’t helping me feel in control. The other thing is the index, too much effort to fill in, the one provided isn’t long enough and looking it up just took too long. Instead, I make tabs for the monthly spread and the blog and I guess for anything else I’ll keep going back to at the moment that’s just the allotment plan/to-do/plant growing list. I cut off the monthly tab when the month finishes.
The weekend was unexpectedly full. I was out at a birthday party on Friday, out for dinner on Saturday night and booked for the cinema on Sunday afternoon. Which is a lot of people, if you’re me. Something had to give. For me that was Saturday morning volunteering at the allotments. I wanted to go but I also knew that I couldn’t do that and be ok come Sunday night. As it goes, I’m writing this at 7pm on Sunday and then going to bed because my head hurts and I’m tired.
I’m sad that I missed the volunteer day but I needed some alone time. People are draining. There in a misconception that I’m an extrovert because I really like people. While some introverts are anxious in social situations, I’m not but I find other people exhausting. So sometimes the right thing to do is not to do something…
I use the Delia Smith marmalade recipe as a base except I just use granulated sugar instead of preserving sugar. For this batch I made a dark marmalade by subbing 500g of the white sugar with dark brown sugar. This idea came from 
I find the shredding part quite therapeutic…
And there you have it, my first batch of 2017… There are lots of other ways you can play with the flavour, a glug of whiskey or gin would work well, but I think I like it best like this?
I bought seeds for the allotment, did some planning for next year and got a haircut. There was wine because January is not the time to give up strong drink. There was also another bloody cold and having to wrestle myself back into a consistent workday/weekend routine. I did it and as it always does the consistency of it and the calm joy of a tidy house worked its magic and I started sleeping better. Not well, just better.
Fog redux. 25 January. 
Waiting for the train. 25 January. It was late and foggy. My morning this week were predictable.
would feel like a safe pair of hands in comparision to Trump?
I made a batch of bolognaise and cooked more pasta than I needed. That was dinner on Sunday night and 4 portions of pasta and sauce for lunches this week, I also sorted out breakfasts by straining some yoghurt and turning the last of the rhubarb into compote. So breakfast will be yoghurt, compote and granola.
Lunches will be pasta and sauce (except on Wednesday when we have a team lunch), dinners will be easy, my favourite 
I’m out on Friday but by that point I will have an empty fridge because I made an effort, not much of one, but an effort anyway. Menu planning doesn’t have to be a big deal or major effort, some weeks it’s good to put that work in but other weeks, just do as much as you can, make sure that you have breakfast planned or lunch, it really makes a difference to your day.
